Save the Bachelor of Heaven

In addition to the "Stone of Destiny", Xiang Nan believes that the second most important thing is the "Fire of Purification".

It is an artifact stolen by the East India Company from the Zoroastrian temple in Persia. It is said to be the sacred fire passed down by the good god Ahura Mazda. It has been burning for thousands of years and is still not extinguished.

The most important ability of the purifying fire is that it can purify people of their sins. As long as people stand on the purifying fire and honestly confess their faults, then these sins can be forgiven.

Xiang Nan believes that this is a very good practice method and can be practiced together with the crystal meditation method of the saints/betrayers.

The third most important is a magical book originating from the Spanish Inquisition.

It turns out that from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, a vigorous witch-hunting movement broke out in Europe. Pope Innocent VIII issued a decree calling for the arrest of all wizards, witches and heretics.

Spain practiced Catholicism and was extremely devout in its beliefs, so it immediately established the Inquisition to try heretics such as wizards, witches, and heretics.

So in the seventeenth century, when other countries had relaxed religious restrictions and accepted Protestantism, Spain still stubbornly insisted on opening the Inquisition.

This can also be seen in "Pirates of the Caribbean 4". The Spanish soldiers clearly found the Fountain of Youth, but destroyed the entire Fountain of Youth altar on the grounds that "only God can give people eternal life."

When the Inquisition tried these heretics, they asked them to record their witchcraft and magic as evidence of their guilt. Eventually, these witchcraft and magic were compiled together and became the "Book of Devils".

The people of the Inquisition believed that this book would lead people to evil ways, so they planned to send it to the Holy City of Vatican to be burned completely. But the ship transporting the book was robbed by the East India Company.

Eventually, the "Devil's Book" became part of the East India Company's collection.

As for the Mountain of Light diamond stolen by Angelica, it is numbered B-025 and is a treasure stolen from the Mughal Palace in India. It is said that this diamond is made of the third eye of Lord Shiva. If you put it between your eyebrows, you can hear the teachings of Lord Shiva.

…

For more than a month after that, Xiang Nan studied these magical items, and used crystal meditation to develop the power of the mind.

During this period, the theft of the East India Company spread like wildfire.

The huge loss of one million pounds could not be concealed at all, and it quickly caused a sensation throughout the UK.

Investors in the East India Company were very dissatisfied, especially the nobles. They gave the money to the East India Company in the hope that they would make money for themselves.

They rely on dividends of tens of thousands or thousands of pounds every year to live a life of luxury and entertainment. But now the loss of millions of pounds has led to a serious crisis for the East India Company.

Not only was it impossible to pay dividends this year, but there was even a risk of bankruptcy, causing all the funds previously invested to be wasted. This made the nobles unbearable, so they protested one after another.

These noble lords have status, power and fame in the UK, and many of them are ministers, parliamentarians, eunuchs and bishops. Even King George II himself was the largest shareholder of the East India Company.

He was also very dissatisfied with his losses, so he ordered a strict investigation of the East India Company to find out whether the money was really stolen or whether it was embezzled by some big rats.

This move also led to a major reshuffle at the top of the East India Company, and many top managers were imprisoned. After all, although the money was really stolen this time, some people's hands and feet were indeed dirty.

It just so happened that he was unable to escape this incident and was sent directly to prison by the angry noble.

…

What Xiang Nan didn't expect was that Kallet Beckett not only escaped unscathed in this turmoil, but also took the opportunity to rise to the top and was promoted from manager to company director, greatly improving his status.

No matter how powerful he was before, he was just a wage earner. After becoming a director, he became the boss, with considerable voice and autonomy.

It turns out that the reason why Carlert Beckett came to the position was not only because he was neither greedy nor possessive, but also because of his bold style and ruthless character, which made him have the best performance among many managers.

Now that the East India Company is experiencing drastic changes, the big financiers behind the scenes are eager for the company to get back on its feet as soon as possible. At this time, Beckett, who had always performed well and survived this rigorous investigation, naturally became the first choice of the funders.

If his qualifications had not been too low, he might have been promoted higher, perhaps even becoming the chairman of the East India Company. Because of this, Beckett is also very motivated.

As soon as he took office, he issued several orders, requiring the chief executives of various regions to significantly increase taxes, and requiring the garrisons in various regions to crack down on pirates and suppress local areas.

The increased taxes include port taxes, navigation fees, berthing fees, loading and unloading fees, not to mention goods transaction taxes, import taxes, tobacco and alcohol taxes, stamp duties... all kinds of things.

According to Xiang Nan's calculations, if the new taxes are imposed, the taxes that merchants will need to pay will more than triple than before. As a result, the price of goods will naturally increase.

But if this happens, the people will suffer. With the money they earn, they can only afford fewer goods and are forced to live frugally and reduce unnecessary expenses. Merchants will also lose money if their goods cannot be sold.

In order to survive, people can only find other ways. For example, merchants introduce goods into the port through smuggling, and people also trade through the black market. This way you can avoid high taxes.

But the cunning Beckett had expected this, and he actually defined all smuggling and black market trade, whether sellers or buyers, as "pirate" behavior.

Once they were caught, they had to be charged with "piracy", and the punishment for "piracy" was hanging.

Just like the beginning of "Pirates of the Caribbean 3", as long as merchants and residents dared to trade on the black market, they were defined as "pirates", so thousands of people were hanged, so that there were not enough cemeteries.

...

As soon as Xiang Nan saw it, he admired Beckett's cruelty, which was simply forcing the living to death.

He naturally would not execute such a cruel order and hang the desperate people. Governor Weatherby was also very dissatisfied with such an order.

"The East India Company is simply crazy. With such high taxes, which merchant dares to come to trade?" He complained to Xiang Nan.

Xiang Nan nodded.

Merchants are all profit-seeking, and they go wherever the tax is low. The tax in Port Royal is so high that merchants who come here to trade don't make any money at all.

Without merchants, Port Royal would not be able to collect taxes and sell goods, and Port Royal would be doomed to decline. By then, he would probably be done as governor.